Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was a bittersweet time for our family.  It was so nice to be able to get together with extended family (Nate, Steven, and Kristina were all home), but we also had to say goodbye to my dad's oldest brother, Dave, who passed away right before Thanksgiving.  Throughout the whole Thanksgiving break, I was reminded about all of the wonderful blessings God has given me and my family.  Dave's passing has also helped me remember not to take my family for granted.

Before the holiday, the kids and I worked on a Thanksgiving project.  I had done these with my kids at school and I thought my kids would like them.  We made turkey hats using construction paper, cotton balls, and feathers.  Emmy discovered that she loves scissors and Landon took to the glue.  We got a little messy, but had a good time!

Emmy's first hair cut

Nov. 19, 2011

Em's hair has been slowly growing for the past year or so.  The front of her hair finally got long enough that it kept falling in her face.  So yesterday, the girls went to the hair salon and both got hair cuts.  Em's doesn't look too different (I didn't want any of the curls in the back cut), but I think it will stay out of her face a little more.  She sat so still and got a "mink" bubble gum sucker afterwards.  She refused to smile in any of the pictures, but I think she still liked it! :)

Em and I went shopping for the materials to make her bow holder and the fabric matches her room really well!

Then after hair cuts, we went to Jessica's for some girl time.  We made bow holders, while the boys took the little boys to Bass Pro Shop for shopping/crafts/ and Santa.  Thanks to the Davis family and Frye family for some fun bonding time!

First snow

The first snow of the season fell on Thursday so the kids had to go out and play.  It was beautiful!  Big, pretty flakes!  I do wish I would've gotten the video camera out quick enough to catch Emerson's reaction the first time she stepped out in it.  She was running, screaming, laughing.  I don't think she remembers snow from last year and she was completely ecstatic that she could eat it as well!  Happy winter!! :)

Library fun

Gma has been taking Landon and Emmy to library every week on Thursday.  The library in Nappanee does an excellent job!  The theme is Curious George, so every week they read a new book and do what George does in the book.  They have done so many creative things and every week the kids get to take home games, toys, and personalized things.  It is great and I know the kids (and Gma!) love it.

Landon paitently waiting for his pizza to be done.  He has to count to 20, either from 1-20 or 80-100!

Emmy cooking blueberry pancakes on her stove.

 Gotta love fun, FREE things for the kids! :)

Halloween Fun 2011

Last week we had a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so we decided to go outside and carve jack-o-lanterns.  Emmy LOVED helping carry the insides on her scooper and throwing them into the woods.  I think Landon just did it because we asked him too.  He doesn't really like getting messy! :)

The kids with the finished jack-o-lantern, Bears pumpkin, cat and spider pumpkin, and the tiny pumpkin we grew.

 We took the kids trick or treating on Friday last week.  We went over to the grandparents, Great Grandpa Vantine, and my aunt and uncle's house.  They loved getting dressed up and saying, "Trick or Treat."

Best picture of Landon as Lightning McQueen

Best picture of Emmy as a princess

We tried really hard, but couldn't get a good one of both of them smiling and looking at the camera!  Maybe next year.
As you can see, there are no pictures from our Halloween Party. :(  We had some people cancel a few days before, so we decided to not decorate/dress up because there would only be 6 people total.  But we did have a great night hanging out with the Fryes and Bergers!! :)

Happy Halloween!!

Favorite Words

I am very much enjoying listening to Landon and Emmy learn new words.  It is so entertaining to hear them try to pronounce new words.  So I thought I'd try to capture a moment in time because I'm sure they will soon have the hang of words and I'll forget how they "used to say that."

Landon (3 yrs.):

• disk-es
• livering room and diamon room
• shore (instead of I do, do, or yes)
• Ems (nickname for his sister)

Emmy (2 yrs.):

• down-day (downstairs)
• ow-eye (outside)
• up-peng (up please)
• baby, bankee, pih-woah, dough-wa (her favorite night-night items)
• na-nan (Landon) 
• To which Landon usually replies, "Ems, why do you call me na-nan?  I am LANDON."

Thistleberry Farm

Yesterday, despite the cool temps and blowing wind, Matt and I took the kids to the Thistleberry Pumpkin Farm with the Shaw family (Bart, Brooke, Bryce, and Cam).  The kids had a fabulous time, although we didn't really look at any pumpkins! :)  They were too busy doing everything else.  They had lots of different kinds of bikes to ride, a cow train, corn box, jumping pillow, huge slide, and more. 

The kids were too small to ride the bikes, so Matt and I had to push them.  We had a hard time convincing Landon to try anything else after he saw the bikes.

The kids rode the cow train (pulled by a tractor) all by themselves without tears!

Emmy LOVED the huge jumping pillow.  Landon wanted to get off right away!

The corn box was like a sand box, except filled with corn.  They had a lot of corn in their shoes and shirts when they were done!

Enjoying chips and cheese for lunch

Mommy and Emmy ready to race Daddy and Landon on the "four wheelers" as Landon called them.

Although we did meet the Shaws there, I realized I didn't get any pictures of them, except from the back! :)  We had great family time and made some wonderful memories.

Landon's Birthday Party

We were lucky enough to celebrate Landon's 3rd birthday on an absolutely GEORGEOUS day! He wore shorts and a short-sleeved polo shirt on Oct. 8th. That's not going to happen very often! :) He wanted a "Diego" birthday party this year. "Diego" is apparently not as popular as his cousin, "Dora", because he was hard to find!

Annual picture of him by his birth tree

We borrowed Cookie's Week from the library this summer and he absolutely LOVED the book, so we got him his own copy for his birthday.

Landon's friends: Grace, Tyler, Greyson, Emmy, Gunnar, and Baby Kenna in back with Amos

Daddy did and AWESOME job on Landon's Diego cake!!

Mary sent Landon a pedal car fire truck.  He loves riding around in it and Emmy is content to ride on the back!

Unfortunately, Emmy woke up on Sat. with a fever, so she didn't really get to enjoy Landon's party much.  She wanted to be held, rocked, and went to bed early.  But we were thankful that Landon felt pretty good after having a fever the two days earlier. 
Landon really enjoyed everything about his party.  He sat and opened all of his presents for the first time and really liked his Diego cake.  Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes to our special little 3 year old!

Our 3 year old

It's true!  Our darling little baby boy is 3!  I know that people always say kids grow up fast and it is true.  Landon is such a blessing!  God had such a perfect plan when he brought this little boy to our family.  Landon is:

• smart
• He is working on odd and even numbers, memorizing scripture for church, repeating directions on how to get from our house to Grandma's, spelling his name, Emmy's name, and more!
• loving
•  "Emmy I love you.  You are the best sister! "
• funny
• "Ha, ha!  I'm just so funny, " he says.
• caring
• "Great Papa, I pray for you today."  "Mommy if you feel sick, I will give you a kiss and you feel better."
• happy
• "Oh, I'm so exciting!" he'll say over things that aren't too exciting for most adults! :)
• full of energy
• His "Diego" birthday balloon didn't last long.  He was having so much fun with it, it got a hole in about 10 minutes!

and so much more.  We have enjoyed so much about Landon.  He surprises us every day.  Love you, buddy!!

More pictues to come after his party next weekend!

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

This is it.  I finally convinced Matt to get a laptop, which he hasn't wanted.  And what we decided was that I'd get a laptop and he'd get a new tower with more power for our old computer.  So we're both happy!  And our Christmas and Birthday gifts are taken care of for this year!!  I really don't know anything about the laptop.  I just wanted to be able to download pictures (that works! :)), skype with people far away, and be able to surf the web without taking 20 minutes to download a page.  I think so far all of those things will work.  So now I should be able to do a better job with posts.  SHOULD being the key word there! :)